Piano-lamp



c. EBERHART, JR.

PIANO LAMP.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.23| i917- l v1 ,353,033. PatentedSept. 14,1920.

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tra saar GLEBURNE EBERHART, JR., 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIG'NOR TOPLAY-O-LITE COMP, INCORPORATED, 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK,I A CORPORATION 0FNEW rrano-LAMP.

Patented Sept. 14C, 1920.

Application filed January 23, 1917. Serial No. 144,009.

To all whom it may concern Jr., a citizen. of the United States,residing at Bualo in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Piano-Lamps, of which thefollowing is a specification. y

This invention relates to a lamp which is more particularly -designedfor use in illuminating the key boardi of an upright piano and the musicand reading matter which may be supported on the rack of the front wallof the piano immediately above the key board. It is the object of thisinvention to produce a simple, compact and inexpensive lamp for thispurpose which will efficiently illuminate the space in front of thepiano and which is so constructed that the same can be readily andeasily atis a fragmentary vertical section of an upright piano equippedwith one form of lamp embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a bottom planview thereof, on an enlargedscale. Fig. 3 is a detached perspective viewof the same looking vat it from the rear. Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentaryvertical longitudinal sections, on an enlarged scale, taken on thecorrespondingly numbered lines in Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a fragmentarysectionalview showing a modification of my invention Similar charactersof reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.i

Although my improved piano lamp is applicable to upright pianos whichmay vary as to the details of construction that, for example, which isshown in the drawings comprises a case having an upright front wall or;board 1, a vertically swinging lid 2 which projects forwardly over theupper edge of the front wall and provided on the underside of its frontpart with a bead or molding 3 which is adapted to project downwardlypast the upper end of the front wall, and a music rack 4 arranged on thefront wall, and playing keys 5 mounted on the casing below the frontwall, these features being similar to those found in upright pianos ascommonly constructed.

My improved piano lamp which is adapted to bemounted on the front wallof a piano of this character is preferably conf structed as follows:

' 6 represents the body o'r wall of the hood or deflector which ispreferably constructed of sheet metal bent into substantiallysemicylindrical form in cross section so as to leave a light outletpassage throu hout the length thereof on its underside. t its oppositeends the body of the casing is provided with two heads 7, 8 which arepreferably circular and constructed of sheet metal to give the hood ordeflector an ornamental appearance. This hood is adapted to be:supported ina horizontal position lengthwise above the key board andmusic rack and in front of the piano casing, so that the rays of lightfrom the illuminating -means arranged within the hood will be directeddownwardly upon the key board and music or the like and brilliantlyilluminate the same. The lighting element or medium preferably consistsof an elongated or tubular electric light bulb 9 which is arrangedlengthwise within the central part of the hood, as shown in Figs. 1 and2. 1 Various means may be provided for removably mounting the electriclight bulb withinthe hood so that this bulb may be renewed from time totime as the same burns out. The preferred means for this purpose,however, consists in employing such an electric lamp fitting in whichthe base 10 of the lamp is mounted in a tubular metallic shell 11 havingits rear end removably seated in a metallic cap 12 which latter servesas the head 8 at one end of the lamp hood or deflector. By this meansthe shell 11 and the head 8 of thehood may be of standard constructionsuch as now generallv used by the electric trade and permits ofproducing a detachable mounting for the electric lamp bulb on the hoodwithout involving an undue outlay in cost of manufacture. The head 8 ofthe hood may be connected with the respective .end of the hood in anysuitable manner, for instance by holding the same tends through aninsulating sleeve 14 of rubber, fiber, vulcanite or similar materialwhich is secured in a central opening in the head 8 by means of a setscrew 15 or other suitable means. By this means the lamp upon burningout may be readily renewed by first sliding the shell 11 and cap 12lengthwise from the body of the hood together with the lamp base andbulb mounted thereon and after the bulb has been renewed the shell mayin like manner be again slipped lengthwise back into the body so thatthe bulb is retained in its proper position within the hood. The lamp Ibase within the shell may also be provided with the usual standardswitch for turning the current on and off from the lamp bulb whichswitch may be operated by a pull chain 16 extending downwardly through atubular guide 17 arranged on the underside of the lamp shell.

. For the purpose of retaining in shape that end of the hood body whichcontains the lamp socket and associated parts a stiffening ring 18 isprovided which is secured within the bore of the hood body around thelamp shell by welding or otherwise which ring bridges the longitudinalopening in the underside of the hood body and prevents the lower edgesthereof from spreading out of place. The lower part of this stifeningring i is provided in its outer edge with a notch 19 which is adapted toreceive the pull chain guide 17 of the lamp fitting, thereby serving asa means for bringing the -pull chain in the proper positionfrelative tothe hood and retaining these parts against rotation relatively `to'eachother. In order to yieldingly hold the lamp bulb in place within thehood adetent device is provided which preferably consists of a detent orretaining spring linger 20 arranged on the lower part of the stiifeningring and adapted to yieldingy engage with the outer side of the shellbehind an external annular bead 21 thereon, as shown in Fig. 5. Byexerting suflicient outward pull on the bulb tting to overcome thefrictional grip of the spring finger 2,0 it is possible to easily andconveniently withdraw the lamp bulb and associated parts from the hoodfor inspection, adjustment or renewal. To prevent upward displacementofthe lamp bulb under the pressure ofthe spring fin r 20 an abutment orfilling 22 is provided Wlthin the body diametrically opposite the fingerwhich abutment is preferably, though not necessa-v rily, made of metalintegrally with the stiffening ring in the form of a strip projectinginwardly from'this ring, asshown in ig. 5.

In order to avoid heating the hood. `unduly a ventilating opening 23 isprovided for permitting the hot air within the hood which is generatedby theheat of the electric bulb to escape from Cthe upper part of thehood. This Ventilating opening is preferably arranged in the upper partof the end head 7 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and'per- A mits the hot airwithin the hood to escape slowly to the exterior thereof, therebypreventing the hood from becoming unduly heated as would otherwise beliable to occur if this hot air were confined within the hood.

In the absence of any provision to prevent it, rays of light from theilluminating mepiano. To prevent this a baille or shield 24 is providedwhich projects downwardly from the upper part of the hood so as to bearranged between the illuminating elementv and the Ventilating openingand thereby obstruct the passage of any rays of light from the lamp bulbthrough this Ventilating opening to the exterior of the hood. In itspreferred form this baille is formed from the metal at the upper edge ofthe head 7 by cutting out a portion of this metal and bending the samedownwardly, as shown in Fi 4.

l y suitable means may be employed for mounting this hood on the upperedge ofthe frontwall of the piano casing but the construction shown inlFigs. 1-5 of the drawings is preferred andas there shown the same isconstructed as follows l:

25, 25 represent two supporting brackets mounted on the body of the hoodadjacent to opposite ends thereof and adapted to detachablyengage withthe upper edge of the front wall of the piano casing. Each of thesevbrackets is preferably constructed mainly of sheetv metal andcomprises ahoriaontal arm 26 projecting rearwardl the rear side of the body of thecaslng adjacent toits lower rear edge, a. relatively stili' front jaw 27projecting upwardly vfrom the rear end of the arm 26, a horizontal webfrom j 28 projecting rearwardly from the upper end of the front jaw anda rear upright jaw 29 projecting downwardly from the .rear end of thisweb.` The front end of each arm 26 may be connected with the rear partof the -hood body in various ways, for instance, by

means of .a flange 30 projecting upwardly from the front end of this armand'secured tothe rear side of the hood I body by electric welding,soldering, or` any other suitable manner. The front and rear jawsand theweb ofy each lbracket together form a hook the mouth of which opensdownwardly ,wherebythis bracket may be engaged withits mouth over theupperedge of a piano front'wall so that the front and rear jaws arearranged respectively'in front and in rear of the frontrpiano wall andthe web is arranged abovethe upper` edge of thisl wall,V

as shown inv Fig.` 1. In, order to permit-this hook-shaped bracket toengage with the upper edges of the piano front walls which may vary inthickness to some extent the rear jaw of the bracket is provided with ayielding bearing which preferably comprises a horizontal spring tongueor flexible rear jaw 31 projecting toward the other bracket, said springtongue being attached to the respective rear jaw either by rivets 32, asshown in Figs. l and 3, or in any other approved manner.y Upon placing abracket of thisA construction with its mouth over the upper edge of thepiano front wall so that its web engages with the top of this wall, thefront jaw engages with the front side thereof and the spring tongue withthe rear side thereof, as shown in Fig. l, so that the lamp will bereliably held against displacement on the piano front Wall. springtongue of each bracket is preferably arranged so close to the front jawso that the same will grip the rear sides of piano front walls whichvary in thickness and thereby securely hold the lamp in its properplace. The presence of the horizontal web of each bracket across theupper end of the piano front wall will not interfere with the closing ofthe lid 2 of the piano casing over the brackets inasmuch as the metalfrom which these brackets are made is comparatively thin and does nothave the effect of raising the lid to an abnormal extent when the latteris lowered upon the brackets. Ow-

ing to the front jaw of each bracket extending downwardly from the frontend of its companion web alongythe front side of the front wall it ispossible for the lid to be lowered into itsclosed positionnotwithstanding the presence of the bead on the underside of the sameinasmuch as this bead simply overlaps the front jaw of each bracket,sufficient space being usually present between this bead and theadjacent surface of the front wall to permit these parts to clear eachother. A ln order to avoid marring or injuring the finished surfaces ofthe piano front wall vand the lid-the inner and outer surfaces oftherack and permit the -same and any front 'jaw and horizontal Aweb of eachbracket are preferably covered witha pro-v tecting or 'cushioningmaterial 33 which may consist of felt or lthe like, as shown in Figs.

land 3.` Y

By arranging the spring tongues of theV i on the front casing wall orthe'parts are so organized that interference with the brackj ets andtheir spring retaining tongues is impossible then each rear jaw 290ofeach The upper end of thel the transfer of-heat from the hood body tothose parts of the brackets which are supported on the piano front7 anopening 34 is formed in the arm of each bracket, thereby reducing theamount of material at these points and the amountv of heat which thesame can carry accordingly and thereby preventing scorching any polishedsurfaces of the front part of the piano.

j When this lamp is mounted on ythe front of `a piano, with thelid'down, as shown in Fig. l, the supporting means for the'hood arepractically'concealed from view so as not to detract from the appearanceof the piano while at the same time furnishing eiiicient illumination ofthe music and the key I encroach upon any of the spacev within the` caseor on top of the lid which may be relquired for articles of decorationor other purposes. Moreover, the construction of this lamp is verysimple and it is possible to produce the same at comparatively low cost.I claim as my invention:

l. A piano lamp comprising a hood having a longitudinal light passage inits underside and a stiffening member which bridges said passage andconnects the walls on opposite sides Aof the same and provided with anoutwardly opening notch, and an electric lamp bulb fitting slidably intosaid hood and provided with a laterally projecting chain guide engagingwith said notch.

2. A piano lamp having a'bracket which includes an upright relativelystiff front aw adapted to engage with the outer side of a to engage withthe upper 4vedge of the piano v upper end of said front jaw, a flexiblerear jaw connected withtherear end of the upper arm and arranged belowthe 'latter and adapted lto engage with the inner side of the pianofront, said flexible jaw including a leaf spring which has its sidesarranged vertically and which is arranged with its length horizontallyand-transversely relatively to said upper horizontal arm, and said frontjawadapted to carry the piano lamp.

3. A piano lamp having ya bracket which includes an upright relativelystiff frontj aw adapted to engage with thel outer side of a piano front,anupper horizontal arm adaptpiano front and projecting rearwardly fromthe upper end of said front jaw,'a flexiblel front and projectingrearwardly from the ed to engage with the upper edge of the rear jawarranged at the rear end of'said upper arm and below the top of thelatter and adapted to engage with the inner side of the piano front, anda lower horizontal arm projecting forwardly from the lower end of said,front jaw and adapted to carry the piano lamp vat its front end, saidflexible jaw being constructed of a leaf'spring which has its sidesarranged vertically and which is'arranged with. its length horizontallyand 10 transversely relatively to said "upper hori- QLEBURNE EBERHART,Je.

